The Way We're Made
by b0rnsick
Summary: James Moran, or RJ Morgan as he's known, has been shaking things up down at NXT. His hard work has finally paid off and now he finds himself on WWE's Main Roster but the challenges have just begun. Can James navigate a family life, romance and the trials and tribulations that come with being one of faces of WWE's New Era?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi guys! I hope you like this first chapter of my OC story The Way We're Made. I'll be using the wrestler's real names backstage or just outside of the ring but their wrestling name inside of the ring i.e. James/RJ, Mercedes/Sasha, Ashley/Charlotte etc. I was in two minds about this but ultimately I thought it to be a good idea as then you get to see the separation of the wrestling persona and the actual person, if that makes sense?**

 **Another few things I would like to clear up about this story:**

 **1) The draft never happened, however SmackDown is now broadcast live on Tuesday nights**

 **2) Sasha still won the WWE Women's Championship from Charlotte**

 **3) The Authority will not play a massive part in the ring, i.e. they won't interfere with matches, Triple H and Stephanie take a purely executive role in this story**

 **4) There will be new titles introduced in the future, I'm just working out the mechanics of how best to introduce them**

 **And lastly, RJ was submitted by myself as an OC in another author's story a few weeks ago as JR Morgan, however the author decided not to continue the story. The author is aware that I'm using my OC in this story and is fine with it (just in case people want to accuse me of stealing a character). I'm also aware that my writing of the actual wrestling matches might be a little awkward but I hope to improve this as I write more chapters.**

 **ENJOY!**

* * *

James Moran stared out of his car, up at the building in front of him, pinching himself occasionally to remind himself that, yes, this was very much reality: he was finally debuting on the main WWE roster. He'd been wrestling in NXT and with his performance at the latest Takeover event being a standout, Triple H had pulled him aside the next day at the Performance Center, in the middle of his workout, to tell him the good news. Since he started training at 13, James had wished that one day he could make it to the main roster but never thought that at the age of 33, he'd finally make it there. Yet here he was, sitting in front of an arena in Atlanta, Georgia which was hosting that night's Raw.

A quiet cough from the backseat of the car made him snap his head around to see the person who had interrupted his thought process. A boy, securely strapped into his car seat, smiled at him for a moment then frowned, perplexed.

"Dad? Where are we? I thought you were going to work." He asked in a slight English accent.

"This is work now buddy, isn't it awesome?" James replied, grinning widely at the thought.

"But this isn't Full Sail… it's weird." This made James laugh.

"It's weird for me too, but look Ryan! There's Gotch, and see over there? There's Cass! I bet Enzo's close by too! It's just like normal, pal, just in a different place. I promise." James was pointing out a couple of people as they passed by.

"If you say so Dad…" Ryan said, still skeptical of this weird place that his father had brought him to. After a few more minutes of reassuring Ryan that they were indeed in the right place and that he hadn't gotten lost on the way, James got them out of the car and headed towards the backstage area. It all seemed a bit more hectic than what he was used to at NXT but he'd expected that. Just as the pair were approaching catering, a strong hand grasped James by the shoulder, making him jerk round quickly with a slight scowl on his face which disappeared when he saw that the hand belonged to Bill "Big Cass" Morrissey, one of his friends from NXT.

"CASS!" Before James could say anything, Ryan launched himself onto Bill who caught him with ease, swinging him around for a little while before setting him back on solid ground. Whenever Ryan met one of his dad's colleagues, he always used their wrestling name, simply because it was easier for him to picture someone as their character, rather than a normal person.

"Woah! Hey pal! Are you excited for your dad's big debut?" Bill asked, taking off Ryan's New England Patriots snapback and ruffling his hair, much to the nine year old's annoyance. Ryan just shrugged before smoothing out his hair. "Well, how about you come with me and I'll show you around? Your dad's gotta go to talk to some people just now but he'll be back soon."

"I do?" James asked, although it did make sense considering it was his first night on the main roster. His friend nodded and explained that Stephanie McMahon and Triple H were looking for him so that they could tell him his upcoming storyline and such. "Alright then, pal. You're going to be good for Cass, right? I'll be back in a little bit."

"Sure, dad." Ryan gave his dad a hug.

"Awesome! Where'd you want to go first then pal?" Bill asked, giving Ryan a high five.

"Hmmm… catering!" James couldn't help but laugh at Ryan's response as he and Bill walked away – Ryan was a bottomless pit; always hungry or thirsty.

* * *

After a few minutes of wandering around trying to find Stephanie's office, James finally stumbled across the right door. Closing his eyes and taking a couple of deep breaths to calm his sudden nerves, James lifted his hand to knock but was beaten to it by someone else. Jumping slightly, he looked to his left and saw a head of bright magenta hair.

"James?! What are you doing here? I didn't know you were coming up!" The owner of said magenta hair exclaimed, making James realize that this was Mercedes KV, or Sasha Banks, ¼ of the Four Horsewomen, newly crowned WWE Women's Champion and one of his friends from back when he was on the indie circuit back in Boston. She also happened to be one of Ryan's favorite wrestlers and secretly, one of James' too.

"Holy crap! Mercedes? Well, I guess it's Sasha these days, huh? How ha-" James started but was interrupted by the sound of Triple H's voice telling them to come in. He opened the door and gestured for Mercedes to go ahead first which she did. Inside the office, Stephanie leant against the edge of her desk while Triple H stood off to the side, laughing about something or other. They smiled at the pair of them when they shuffled in and both shook James' hand when he offered it to them.

"Ah! There they are, the very two people we were just talking about." Stephanie said, leaning up against her desk once again. "First off, James, welcome to the main roster. It's great to have you here and we all think you'll bring something special to the show. And Mercedes, we've all been really impressed with what you've been doing lately, both in and out of the ring. Your attitude and dedication have really shone through which is why…" she trailed off and gestured towards her husband who picked up where she left off.

"Which is why we want to put you two into a storyline together." Mercedes started to protest, but was stopped before she could get a word out. "Now, don't worry, it's not going to be a romance storyline, we're trying to move forward with our women's division not backwards remember? Anyway, we want to play off of the fact that you worked together on the indies back in Boston. We've watched some tapes of you two in mixed gender tag matches and the WWE Universe have been asking for us to bring some of that kind of content back into the show so tonight we'll be having a mixed gender tag match between you two and the team of Charlotte and Chris Jericho. It'll be an interesting way of introducing RJ Morgan to the WWE Universe and will also further your feud with Charlotte, Mercedes." Triple H explained, confident that their plan would go down well. "Sound good to you two?" Mercedes and James both looked at each other and smiled, knowing that this would work.

"Sounds great to me, sir. I can't think of anyone I'd rather share the ring with on my debut," said James.

"Sounds good to me too, but how are we gonna bring him out? Do we have a promo to cut or an interview or something?"

"Well, here's what we were thinking…"

* * *

 _ **WITH RYAN AND CASS**_

"Now buddy, I gotta go get ready for my match with Enzo against The New Day so I'm gonna need you to stay right here until your dad or I get back. Okay?" Bill said as Ryan sat himself down in front of one of the monitors which were dotted around the backstage area. Ryan just hummed in response, already absorbed in the match which was on screen – AJ Styles vs Kevin Owens. Bill just smiled and walked towards the locker room. There were plenty of people in the area who would hopefully keep an out for the kid if he did decide to go for a walk but Bill was hoping that for once he would do as he was told.

A couple of minutes later, Ryan lost interest in the on screen action and decided to go explore. He avoided the areas that Bill had taken him on their tour – catering, men's locker room, gorilla – and ventured off into the parts they hadn't covered. However, much like with the wrestling action before it, the adventure backstage didn't hold Ryan's interest for very long. He started heading back towards the area that Bill had left him, but soon found that he had no idea where he was. He tried looking around the area that he was in or remembering which way he'd come, but he couldn't remember or see any signs indicating where he was.

"My dad's going to be so mad… He'll be so mad…" the kid kept repeating, pacing around the empty hallway, too afraid of getting more lost to venture past the double doors at the end of the hallway. Eventually, he slumped down the wall and sat down on the linoleum floor, head bowed in defeat.

Just as he felt tears start to build up in his eyes, the harsh light of the corridor was blocked out, making him jerk his head up to see what had happened, only to let out a yelp at the sight of a mess of bright orange hair. "Ah!"

"Oh sorry to scare you there, lad! You okay?" The woman in front of Ryan said from her crouching position in front of him. Between her Irish accent, the hair and the fact she was wearing wrestling gear meant that this was Becky Lynch, Ryan's favorite wrestler.

"YEAH! I mean, yeah, I'm okay, I suppose." He hastily wiped away the moisture from his eyes in an attempt to hide his distress but Becky had already seen his mini meltdown as she approached him.

"Sure, whatever you say, pal. Here's an idea though, seeing as you're doing grand and all, why don't you get off of this floor and come with me to catering, I could do with some food and some company after my match?" Becky proposed, holding a hand out to help Ryan off of the floor which he duly accepted.

"Uh, I don't want to seem rude or anything, but don't you want to take a shower or get changed after your match?"

"Nah, see my match was against Eva Marie so I hardly broke a sweat," the Irish woman joked, getting Ryan to laugh along. "So I should probably ask your name and what you're doing here backstage?"

"Oh! I'm Ryan! My dad's just left NXT, I think he's wrestling up here with you guys now."

"Dang, really? What's his na-" Becky was cut off by the sound of James calling Ryan's name as he and Mercedes walked along the hallway. "Oh, hey Mercedes! Who's this?"

"'CEDES!" Ryan yelled, and much like he did with Bill before, threw himself at Mercedes only this time she wasn't ready to catch him and stumbled a bit.

"Ry-Ry! It's been a while! How you been dude?" Mercedes asked once she had regained her footing.

"I've been good! I've been travelling with Dad and the guys on NXT, it's been a lot of fun!"

"Hey, Ryan, where's Cass? I thought he was watching you," James interjected from behind Mercedes.

"Yeah, about that… He had a match with Enzo so he had to go and I was looking for the toilet and got lost… But, I found Becky! How cool is that Dad?!" Ryan mumbled to start with, not wanting to admit that the real reason he'd ended up on the floor outside of the women's locker room was that he'd disobeyed an adult's instructions… again. James just rolled his eyes, knowing what his son was like, then held his hand out to Becky for a handshake.

"Sorry about him, and thanks for finding him. He has a habit of doing this, I hope he wasn't any trouble."

"Nope, no trouble at all! In fact, me and my new pal Ryan were just about to go hang out at catering for a bit. That is, if it's alright with you?"

"Yeah, sure. Mercedes and I actually have a match tonight, so you'd be doing me a huge favor. Sorry, I just realized I haven't introduced myself – I'm James Moran, I just got brought up from NXT, tonight's my debut."

"Rebecca Quin, but no one calls me that except maybe my mum, just Becky around here'll do. Congratulations on making the main roster! What match do you have tonight?"

"Mixed gender tag match with Ashley and Jericho. Should be a good one!" Mercedes replied, still in a vice like hug from Ryan. Mercedes, or 'Cedes as Ryan called her, was one of Ryan's favorite people. Back when James and Ryan were living in Boston, Mercedes would occasionally babysit for James when he had to work a late night or, even rarer, when she'd managed to bend his arm into going on a date with a friend of a friend of hers. The dates never worked out but she was persistent and kept trying. "How was your match with Eva? I didn't get to see it; we were talking to Ashley about the promo at the start of our segment."

"Eh, it was your usual match against Eva. Nothing more to say about it really," Becky just shrugged, although inside she was slightly disappointed that she wasn't getting the opportunity to take part in mixed tag matches, instead she had to make do with wrestling against Eva Marie. "I think your slot's nearly up, by the way, might be an idea to head to gorilla and me and Ryan here will go hangout!"

"Oh, shoot! Thanks again for keeping an eye on him!" Mercedes gave Becky while James hugged Ryan once more before chasing after Mercedes who had started jogging down towards the gorilla position.

* * *

 _ **10 MINUTES LATER, CATERING**_

"-and then, my dad jumped off the top rope, spun around and kicked him in the back of the head! How cool is that?!" Ryan told Becky excitedly. Once she had gotten some food and found somewhere to sit, she had asked him about his James' matches in NXT and so far, he'd been able to paint quite the interesting picture.

"So cool! Oh, look Ryan, your dad will be coming out soon!" The woman gestured with her fork towards the TV monitor in the room which showed Mercedes make her entrance.

 _Sasha stood in the center of the ring, the Women's Championship over her shoulder. The crowd were chanting 'You deserve it' and she couldn't help but just look around the arena, taking everything in. She had just began her promo, talking about NXT Takeover: Brooklyn and SummerSlam when Charlotte's music hit and she walked down the ramp. The two traded jibes, Sasha finishing with a comment about Charlotte being the result of a "one night stand."_

"Huh? What does that mean?" Ryan asked Becky who was quietly chuckling away to herself until Ryan spoke up, making her choke a little on the food she was eating. 'Damn it, Mercedes, now I have to explain one night stands to a nine year old!' Becky thought. Luckily for her though, Chris Jericho started making his way down to the ring, distracting Ryan for a minute.

 _Jericho came out, defending Charlotte, gaining a nice amount of heat from the crowd, especially when he called Sasha a brat. Suddenly the lights in the arena went off and the sound of drums could be heard. They flickered back on again and all three standing in the ring were looking very confused before the arena was plunged back into darkness again. This time 'The Way We're Made' by Missing Andy started playing, earning a massive pop from the crowd as they realized that RJ Morgan was making his debut on the main roster. The crowd were still going crazy when, 30 seconds into the song, the lights came back on, showing RJ standing at the top of the ramp, microphone in hand. He was in his usual ring gear of long black tights with a silver Liverbird outlined in red on the left thigh, black boots with red laces and a sleeveless red hoodie with a black flame on the back._

"That's him! That's my dad!" Ryan shouted, jumping out of his seat and pointing at the screen. Becky couldn't help but smile at how excited the young lad was, even if his sudden outburst was gaining a few strange looks from the crew members that were lingering about.

 _"Oh my gosh, that's RJ Morgan from NXT! We knew he'd be coming to Raw and SmackDown soon, but we didn't know it was tonight! This is huge!" Bryon said from the commentary table. In the ring, Charlotte and Sasha looked shocked while Jericho just looked unimpressed._

 _"Well, ladies and gentlemen, if you're not familiar with RJ Morgan, you're going to be in the coming weeks because this man has been dominating things down in NXT," added Michael Cole. By this point, RJ had gotten into the ring and was standing alongside Sasha. Once the crowd reaction had died down slightly, RJ cleared his throat and started talking into the mic._

 _"Now, now there's no need for all this hostility, is there? You see Charlotte, Jericho, you may not realize this, but Sasha and I go way back and being the gentleman that I am, I'm not going to insult you or downplay what you've achieved here in WWE. No, not at all, in fact I think you've earned respect for all that you've done. However, I'm going to ask that you pay my friend and YOUR WWE Women's Champion some respect." Charlotte tried to butt in but RJ kept going, "And if you don't, well, then I'm sure that Sasha and I would have no trouble in teaching you some manners, eh Sash?" That had Charlotte and Jericho talking over each other, trying to find a way out of this situation. Before they could, Mick Foley's music came on and he walked out to the top of the entrance ramp._

 _"Now, Jericho, Charlotte - you might not agree with what this young man has to say, but I, and the WWE Universe, do. Which is why, you will take on the team of the WWE Women's Champion Sasha Banks and RJ Morgan in a tag team match and, because I don't want to see any funny business from your protégé Charlotte, Dana Brooke will be banned from ringside." This got a great reaction from the crowd. "And not only will this match take place tonight, it will take place right now!" Mick went backstage to 'This is awesome' chants from the WWE Universe._

"YAY! Go Dad! This is awesome! This is awesome!" Ryan started joining in the chant as he moved closer to the TV monitor.

 _In the ring, RJ started things off with Jericho. They went for the lock up and RJ got the Canadian in a side headlock, making Jericho fight his way over to the ropes, RJ using the momentum off of the ropes to hit a running bulldog. He went for a quick pin which Jericho kicked out of at one. Taking advantage of his grounded opponent, RJ delivered some kicks to his back, making Jericho scurry over to Charlotte and tagging her in._

 _Sasha came in for RJ and rolled up Charlotte but the 'genetically superior' woman got out. She continued to go for a quick cover but Charlotte always managed to evade the three count. Charlotte then changed the momentum of the match with chops to the champion's chest, leaving Sasha reeling slightly and sending her into the corner. However, it didn't last long when Sasha managed to get out of the corner and deliver a chop of her own. An arm drag was followed up by double knees which Charlotte once again managed to kick out of. Arm crawling over to her corner, Charlotte tagged in Jericho._

 _Instead of coming through the ropes, RJ climbed to the top rope and delivered a missile drop kick to Jericho's chest. As Jericho scrambled onto his feet, he was met by a dragon whip. He stumbled over to the ropes, but he and his partner were sent over the top rope by two clotheslines from RJ and Sasha. Seizing the opportunity, RJ went for a suicide Arabian press but Jericho moved out of the way and hit him with a kick to the ribs. With the wind knocked out of him, RJ fell to his knees, mindful of the referee counting inside the ring. Jericho stood inside the ring, running his mouth at Sasha who was willing RJ to get back into the ring to make the tag. The ref got to seven before RJ managed to pull himself back into the ring but was caught by Jericho with a series of blows to the jaw. Trying to rebuild his momentum, the Englishman came off the ropes with a clothesline, sending Jericho to the mat once again. Acting quickly, he pulled Jericho onto his feet set him up for an exploder suplex._

"Nice!" Becky was impressed with what she'd seen in the ring from James so far and was pleasantly surprised to see him use an exploder suplex, a move that she herself liked to use. Although they were both signed to NXT at some point, Becky had never seen James in the ring – on occasion she'd seen him hanging around at the performance center but had never seen what he was capable of as a wrestler.

"My Dad's kicking butt, isn't he Becky?!"

"Sure is, Ryan, he sure is!"

 _With the match going in his team's favor, RJ set Jericho up for his submission maneuver – the Leppings Lock, a crossface/scissored armbar similar to Batista's Batista Bite. As he got it locked in, Charlotte ran into the ring to break up the hold. After a short flurry of kicks, slaps and punches between Sasha and Charlotte, Sasha hit a double knee backbreaker which she transitioned into the Bank Statement. RJ got Jericho back into the Leppings Lock in the middle of ring and after a few moments, heard the sound of Jericho and Charlotte tapping the mat at the same time, handing RJ and Sasha the victory._

 _"What an impressive showing by RJ Morgan in his debut match against Chris Jericho and Charlotte!" Michael Cole announced as RJ and Sasha celebrated inside of the ring, watching Charlotte and Jericho retreat back up the entrance ramp._

* * *

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please review/follow/favorite and I will update as soon as I can!**


	2. Chapter 2

_"What an impressive showing by RJ Morgan in his debut match against Chris Jericho and Charlotte!" Michael Cole announced as RJ and Sasha celebrated inside of the ring, watching Charlotte and Jericho retreat back up the entrance ramp._

* * *

Becky and Ryan stood at gorilla, waiting for James and Mercedes to come backstage so that they could congratulate them. Ashley and Jericho came through the curtain first, looking slightly worse for wear. Jericho headed off to the locker room but Ashley hung around.

"Good match, Ash!" Becky said, giving her best friend a tight hug.

"I could've been better, but thanks anyway Becks. Who's this little guy, huh? You replacing me Quin?"

"Well, I hate for you to find out this way, Fliehr, but…" The redhead joked, earning a playful shove on the shoulder. "Are you gonna say hi buddy? She looks scary but she's really nice, I promise."

"Hey!" Ryan laughed at Ashley's offended expression.

"Hi, I'm Ryan," the kid said, slightly hiding behind Becky.

"Hey, Ryan. I'm Ashley, but if you want you can call me Charlotte, okay? Now, are you stealing my best friend?" Ryan shook his head, but came out of his hiding spot a little.

"It's okay if you are, she's not that much fun anyway."

"Gee, thanks."

"Nope, my best friends are 'Cedes and Cass!" Right on cue, James and Mercedes came back through the curtain, looking slightly more put together than Ashley, but dishevelled none the less.

"Aw, you're my best friend too Ry-Ry!" Mercedes cooed, giving Ryan a high five. "Did you like our match?"

"Yeah! Dad, you kicked as- butt!" James fixed Ryan a look, making him correct himself very quickly. "It was awesome!"

"Thanks pal!" The father and son hugged before James turned to Becky. "Did he behave? I know he has a tendency to get a bit, erm, caught up in the matches."

"Yeah, he was great, although thanks to Pinky-minus-a-brain over there, you might have some questions about one night stands to answer later." The four adults laughed, especially when James groaned, running his hands over his face and Mercedes lightly punched Becky's shoulder for the insult.

"Thanks, Mercedes. I was so ready for the birds and the bees talk on the way to the hotel tonight."

"I would say I'm sorry, but I'm really not. That was hilarious! Right, Ash?" Suddenly Mercedes was wondering if maybe Ashley wasn't cool with what she'd said in the ring.

"Yeah! I was trying so hard not to laugh. By the way, James, great debut. I hope we get to work together some more in the future. I'll see you guys later; I gotta leave early tonight, early morning interview."

"Wait, how am I getting to the hotel then? You're supposed to be my ride." Becky asked, not wanting to have to get a cab.

"Shoot, I totally forgot, sorry Becks!" Ashley was apologetic; she'd genuinely forgotten that she was her best friend's ride to the hotel. James cleared his throat, grabbing both Becky's and Ashley's attention.

"Erm, I know we've literally just met so feel free to say no but Ryan and I have space in our car and…" The Englishman was cut off by Becky jumping on him, hugging him tightly.

"Thank you so much!"

"Not a problem, Pinky-minus-a-brain is riding with us too so you can draw straws for who rides shot gun and who gets to sit in the back with the little man."

"Hey, what is this? 'Pick on Mercedes night'?"

"Don't pick on 'Cedes! She's my best friend!" Ryan jumped to Mercedes' defence, making everyone chuckle and a grin break out over the woman's face.

"See, Ry-Ry has my back! Now, let's go get changed so we can get out of here."

* * *

 _ **IN THE MEN'S LOCKER ROOM, 15 MINUTES LATER**_

Ryan sat on one of the benches in the locker room, playing Immortals on his dad's phone. James had gone into the shower a few minutes ago, leaving Ryan to his own devices. He was in the middle of a fight between the team of Kane, Paige and Trish Stratus and the team of Sheamus, Big Show and Brie Bella that a text came through from an unknown number. Quickly checking that his dad wasn't around, Ryan clicked on the notification, bringing up the text which read: 'Hey, sorry to text you out of the blue. I just wanted to congratulate you on your debut. Thomas and the kids were watching Raw so I caught the end of your match. I understand if you don't want to reply, just know that I'm proud of you – Sarah.' Realizing that his dad most definitely would not want to reply to, or even read, the message, Ryan deleted it, confused as to how she'd even gotten his dad's number in the first place.

It wasn't long before James came back out and started getting dressed in smart black jeans, a purple shirt which was tucked in and buttoned up, black boots and a black tie around his neck. Even though he had just wrestled a match, James' father had brought him up to believe that one should always look their best, so he favoured fitted button-up shirts and ties paired with smart jeans when backstage so as to make the best possible impression without looking too formal. His ordinarily unruly hair was combed back and out of his way, appearing slightly darker than its usual dirty blonde due to it being still a little damp. He tidied away his wrestling gear before pulling on his favourite leather jacket.

"You ready to go, Ryan?" He asked, zipping up his suitcase.

"Uh-huh." Ryan nodded sleepily as he handed James his phone and stood up; the excitement of the day catching up with him now that it was late.

"Don't worry bud, the hotel's only a 45-minute drive away and you can go for a nap in the car if you want."

Leading the sleepy nine-year-old out to the car, James was stopped by a few guys – The Club, Kalisto, Neville, The New Day – who passed on their congratulations, all of whom he thanked, before he made it back to the car. Just as he was about to climb in and join Ryan in the car, he laughed out loud at the sight of Mercedes and Becky wandering around, clearly looking for them.

"Oh, look, it's the walking highlighters!" He called out, getting the two women to turn around and head over to the car.

"Really, highlighters? That's the best you could do? At least Pinky-minus-a-brain was kinda funny." Sasha deadpanned, wheeling her suitcase behind her.

"Yeah, I have to admit, I've heard better." Becky agreed. James just shrugged, smiling.

"Eh, you win some, you lose some. Now get in losers, we're going driving!"

"SHOTGUN!" Becky shouted, just a second ahead of Mercedes who pouted as the two of them loaded their suitcases into the black SUV.

"Damn it! Fine, whatever, I just get to chill in the back with my buddy Ryan," the woman sassed, thanking James when he opened the door for her.

"Looks like it's us two up front then." James done the same for Becky before jogging round to the driver's side and buckling himself in. "Hotel - Here. We. Go!"

* * *

 _ **ON THE ROAD, 30 MINUTES LATER**_

"So, how long have you been wrestling?" Becky asked, taking a break from humming along to the songs coming through the speakers. Ryan had fallen asleep 20 minutes ago and Mercedes had decided to join him not long after, giving James and Becky plenty of opportunity to get to know each other better.

"Well I started training when I was 13; began working on the indies when I was 17; things slowed down a bit when I moved to London in '05 but then I came to Boston in 2013. I got signed to NXT in 2014 and the rest is history, I guess. What about you?"

"Started training with Fergal in 2002 with my brother, wrestled in Canada, Japan, Europe then I just stopped. Tried acting, personal training, studied clown, was a flight attendant, just nothing felt, I don't know, right, I suppose? Then in 2013 I tried out for NXT and signed. How did Ryan and the move to Boston come about?" That made James exhale then chuckle slightly.

"Jeez, I know you said Ryan would need the birds and the bees, I didn't think you would too."

"Oh, you know what I mean!" Becky laughed, quietly singing along to the James Bay song that was playing softly in the background. "Feel free not to tell me, I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything."

"It's okay, I don't mind. When I moved down to the London, I wanted a fresh start. I'd had some – how do I put it? – family problems and thought, 'Hey, why not London?'. I kind of stopped wrestling for a while; started going out a lot at night, not coming home in the morning, the usual stuff. Then one night when I was out, I met this girl called Sarah. I flirted with her, thought I'd gotten lucky then just as I went in for a kiss, she dumped her drink on me. I was hooked. So the next night I went back and I kept going back until she showed up again. I managed to get her number and we got together. Five months later we got married and everything was good. Then in 2007, Ryan was born. We decided to call him Ryan Shawn Moran to carry on the tradition of a wrestling middle name, seeing as mine is Ric. I think it was the happiest day of my life – I know that's so cheesy but it was. I got back into ring shape and started wrestling on the indies again in 2011. That's when things started going sour with Sarah; we were fighting constantly or if we weren't fighting we just wouldn't talk at all, which was worse. Then in one day, in 2013, I came home from a show with Ryan and she was just gone. All of her clothes, her belongings, were missing. She'd left a note on the work top but I couldn't read it. I just ripped it up and threw it away." Becky tried to stop him, but James just smiled and waved it off. "Like I said, I don't mind. Mercedes asked too, it's not that big of a deal. Anyway, a couple of weeks later, I decided that we needed another fresh start so I called around, asking if anyone was interested in me wrestling on their shows. I got one reply from Boston so that's where we went. Never looked back since."

Just as he finished talking, they pulled up to the hotel.

"Mercedes, Ryan - we're at the hotel." James softly called back to the sleeping pair.

"Wha- Oh, thanks. How long was I asleep?" Mercedes asked, yawning as she stretched.

"Not long, traffic was decent so we got here quicker than I thought."

"Awesome." Everyone except Ryan got out of the car; James opened the boot and got out all of the suitcases before walking around to Ryan's door and opening it.

"C'mon buddy, time to wake up." Still, the kid kept sleeping, a light snore could be heard now that the music had stopped. "Mercedes, would you mind getting my suitcase and Ryan's backpack? Looks like this one's not waking up anytime soon."

"It's okay, I got it." Becky piped up, closing the boot as quietly as she could. James unfastened Ryan's seat belt and gently lifted him out of the car, nudging the door shut behind him. The three adults and sleeping kid made their way into the foyer and collected their room keys before getting into the elevator. Mercedes had a room on the fourth floor while Becky and James were roomed on the eighth floor. Mercedes got off at her floor, wishing both of them a good night and a comfortable silence settled in.

As the elevator reached the eighth floor, they got out and headed towards James' room so that he could Ryan in bed and Becky could leave their luggage. The father made quick work of changing Ryan into his pyjamas and tucking him into his bed. Becky smiled at the sight and began making her over to the door.

"Thanks for keeping me company on the drive over, Becky. I appreciate it." James whispered, jogging over to the door to open it for her.

"No big deal, thanks for the ride. I'll see you tomorrow." She stepped through the door and walked over to her room, right across the corridor. "Oh, by the way, James?"

"Yeah?"

"Welcome to the main roster."

* * *

 **I'm not too happy with this chapter, but I'd still appreciate your feedback on it all the same! Let me know if you like the heavy use of dialogue, I realise that I do use A LOT of it.**

 **Favourite/follow/review! Until later guys!**


	3. Chapter 3

**_ORLANDO_** , **_2 DAYS LATER, 7.35am_**

"Ryan, c'mon buddy. You've got to wake up for school." James whispered, gently shaking the sleeping lad's shoulder. The Moran's were back in Orlando for a few days so that James could say goodbye to the guys down at NXT. Those in charge of booking the WWE live events had decided not to book him on the live events until the following week for which he was thankful. Before he could do that though, he had to give Ryan his classes for the day, having made the decision to home school him himself. With the near constant travelling and James being a single parent with no family and only a few friends around, it was pretty much the only option. Ryan still hadn't stirred when James came back from setting up his textbooks in the kitchen so the father tugged the covers off and called on his secret weapon: Ivy, their three year old Rhodesian Ridgeback who dutifully came bounding in before jumping on Ryan's bed and licking him.

"Ugh, Ivy! Not cool!" Ryan huffed, shooing the excited dog off of him. "Thanks, Dad." The kid sassed, pulling himself out of bed and into their shared bathroom.

"Downstairs for breakfast in ten; we start English at 8.15 sharp!" James called out as he and Ivy walked back into the living room where a man with dreadlocks and a thick beard was sleeping on the couch. Without prompt Ivy pounced, jumping right onto the man's sternum.

"Ah, holy shit! Ivy!" James laughed at the sight of his housemate, Sam, falling off of the couch and onto the mess of pizza boxes and Chinese take away cartons which occupied part of the floor. Sam was a PhD student who just so happened to be looking for a roommate when James moved to Orlando, also looking for a roommate. Over the past couple of years, the two had become close friends and when James and Ryan were on the road, Sam was more than happy to look after Ivy. "Oh crap, what time is it?!"

"7.50am, buddy."

"Damn it, I'm going to be late!" Sam ran out of the room, nearly bowling over an incoming Ryan who was used to the man's eccentricities and just made his way over to the adjoining kitchen to start pouring his cereal. A few minutes later, while Ryan was shovelling mouthful after mouthful of Cheerios in and James was rolling around the floor playing with Ivy, Sam poked his head through the door, yelled something about a meeting then ran out the front door, letting it slam behind him.

"You finished your breakfast Ryan?" James asked, coming over to stand behind him at the table.

"Uh-huh." One last spoonful was shovelled in then the bowl was deposited in the sink then Ryan came back to the table, groaning at the sight of the textbooks. "Dad, do we really, really need to do school today?"

"You know we do."

"But I thought that I'd finished all of the material and it's just revision today?"

"Well, yeah but..."

"But then why can't we do something else today?" James sighed, realising that Ryan was right; they'd covered all of the material that they had to and it was just a case of going over it before the lad sat the tests on it in a week's time.

"Okay then," Ryan interrupted with a 'yes!' and a fist pump before his dad continued. "What do you want to do today then?" All of a sudden Ryan looked rather sheepish. "What? What is it?"

"Can we... Could we maybe, possibly go for hike together?"

"Sure, I guess we could, but why? We could do something more fun if you wanted."

"It's just, we used to go hiking together all the time but we haven't for a while and I kind of miss it."

"Aw, buddy, you should've just said. I'd love to go hiking with you. Tell you what, go get changed into your shorts and running shoes, I'll meet you out the front and we'll take the car out to Split Oak, just like we used to, sound good?" That made Ryan's slight frown turn into a massive grin as he jogged up to his room to get changed.

Seeing as he was already in shorts and running shoes, James took the time to go on Twitter for the first time since his main roster debut. As he expected, his followers and mentions were blowing up so after reading through some of the tweets he decided to send out one of his own. ' **wwerjmorgan** Thanks for the love and support everyone... it's time for a #MerseyMade champ #TheWayWereMade.' Retweeting a few tweets from the official WWE account, Triple H (who he had taken a picture with after his debut), Mick Foley and Mercedes, he couldn't stop the grin that broke out on his face when he saw one from Becky: ' **BeckyLynchWWE** What a match! **wwerjmorgan** bringing some #straightfiyah to Raw in his debut, congratulations!' He must have stood staring at the screen for a while because the sound of Ryan clearing his throat gave him a slight scare.

"Ready to go, Dad?" He asked, a curious look on his face.

"Go..? Oh, yeah, let's go!" Quickly grabbing some bottles of water out of the fridge, they left the house and set off on the short drive to Split Oak Forest.

* * *

 _ **SPLIT OAK FOREST, EARLY AFTERNOON**_

"This is so much better than school!" Ryan yelled, running ahead of his dad on the hiking trail. The duo were nearly finished their hike and were a couple miles away from where they'd parked their car and Ryan was loving it. Split Oak was one of his favourite places which was obvious by the grin on his face.

"Yeah it is pretty cool, huh? Good idea, son." James ruffled his son's hair as they continued along the trail. They walked for a while, talking about wrestling, Ivy, school and anything else that came to mind when suddenly, just as the car came into view, Ryan pointed towards a couple who were ahead of them that seemed to be in the middle of a rather intense argument.

"Dad, is that Becky?" he asked, referring to the redhead with her back to them; her arms were flailing and she argued her point with a tall guy who kept trying to shut her up. James was about to say no when the woman turned around and it was indeed the Irish woman. Sensing that she might want back up, James called out to her.

"Becky? Is everything okay?"

"Oh hey, James! Everything's grand, I'm just heading home." As she took a step toward them, James saw her companion grab onto her arm to stop her. "If you value your ability to have children, you'll let go of me. Now." Becky spat out, refusing to turn and look at the man.

"There's no need for you to leave, Rebecca." The douchebag replied in a condescending tone.

"Look, if Becky says she wants to leave, then she's leaving pal. Just let her go." James interjected seeing as the man's hand still had a hold of her bicep.

"Who even is this guy, Rebecca? Your boyfriend or something?"

"No, he's not, but that's none of your business." Becky tried to shrug the hand off, but he just tightened his grip further, turning the skin around his fingers white. "I swear if you don't let go-"

"C'mon now darlin', there's no need to cause a scen- WHAT THE FUCK?!" The guy tried to turn on the charm but quickly stopped when Ryan let out a scream, ran up and jumped on his back and tried putting him in a sleeper hold - just like he'd seen his dad do hundreds of times - which made the man drop his hand pretty fast in attempt to get him off.

"Ryan! Ryan get down!" James shouted, putting on a stern front when internally he was proud of his son for trying to help get Becky out of this mess. The man dropped to his knees on the dirt path at which point both Becky and James ran over to pull a still yelling Ryan off of him. "Enough Ryan!"

"You should've let go! She asked you to let go!" Ryan was screaming as James grabbed him and hauled him off. Becky quickly looked at her companion who was rolling around the path like an idiot, playing up to the people who had seen what had happened and stopped. Rolling her eyes, she jogged over to James.

"I am so, so sorry!" She apologised, scanning over Ryan's body to see if he'd managed to get hurt at any point in the struggle.

"It's okay, I have no idea what came over him." James ran a hand through his hair, wondering how the day managed to end up like this.

"He wasn't letting her leave..." Ryan said quietly, crossing his arms and looking down at his shoes.

"Still though Ryan! You can't just jump on a guy and put him in a sleeper hold! What if you'd gotten hurt, huh?"

"I didn't think of that." Both Becky and James saw Ryan's green eyes fill up with tears but before James could comfort his son, Becky spoke up.

"Hey, Ryan, look at me." Ryan did and Becky continued, "I'm okay, see? Everything's fine." Becky wasn't expecting for Ryan to launch himself at her, hugging her like a koala on a tree. "Ooft!

"I'm sorry, Becky."

"It's okay, pal. You were just trying to help." Ryan jumped down and the trio made their way over to the Moran's SUV.

"Did you bring your car with you Becky?" James asked as Ryan got situated in the back seat.

"Oh, crap, no I didn't. That guy was my ride."

"Well, I could give you a lift home if you want? Although I was planning on stopping by the PC so it's cool if you don't."

"You are a lifesaver, James Moran. Where would I be without you?"

"Probably still at the arena in Atlanta." Becky cracked a smile at that, thanking James as he opened the passenger door up for her before climbing into the car.

* * *

 _ **WWE PERFORMANCE CENTER, LATER THAT DAY**_

Becky watched as Ryan talked to one of her close friends, Pamela Martinez - better known as Bayley - inside one of the rings. James had wandered off a few minutes ago to find Coach Bloom, leaving Becky and Ryan to their own devices. Not that Becky minded and judging by the wide grin on Ryan's face, he wasn't too put out by it either.

"Hey! Becky! C'mere a sec, would ya?" Pamela shouted, waving her over.

"What's up?"

"Ryan here was telling me that you're his new best buddy, that true?" Becky didn't really know what to say to that, although she felt honoured that the young lad had taking a liking to her so quickly.

"Yeah, we're best buds, ain't we Ryan?" Ryan nodded his head rapidly, still grinning like a loon. The Irish woman climbed into the ring, giving Ryan a high five as she did. "We've got each others backs."

"Uh-huh! Like, earlier some guy wouldn't let Becky go, so I put a sleeper on him! Or tried to..." Pamela burst out laughing, nearly choking on the drink of water she'd just had. "Whoa! Are you okay, Bayley?!"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine." The woman took a few more seconds to compose herself. "A sleeper?"

"Yup! But Becky and my Dad pulled me off of him."

"That's cause you can't go putting people in sleeper holds willy-nilly, Ryan. Remember? We talked about this," reminded Becky, giving Ryan a look.

"I know, I know. I still think he deserved it though." Becky and Pamela smiled at each other then Pamela mouthed 'we're talking about this later' which made Becky roll her eyes. Just then James came out of Coach Bloom's office, laughing with the man and Shinsuke Nakamura. Once the laughter died down, Coach Bloom pointed out Ryan in the ring.

"Well, looks like your kid's following in your footsteps Moran!"

"Looks like it - he tried to put some guy in a sleeper earlier. He would've gotten it locked in too, if the guy didn't have a neck the size of a tree trunk and Ryan wasn't built like a twig." The three men laughed, watching as Ryan cheered on Becky who was going over some move with Pamela in the ring. "Come on, Ryan, we've got to head home."

"What, why? Can't we stay?" Ryan protested.

"Sorry buddy, Sam's not going to be home until the morning and someone's got to feed Ivy. We can come back tomorrow."

"Ugh, fine." Ryan walked out of the PC, pouting, making James groan.

"This kid..." A few seconds later, Becky hopped out of the ring and came by James' side. "Sorry, are you okay to go? I forgot for a second that I was your ride."

"Nah, don't worry about it's fine." The two said goodbye to Pamela, Shinsuke and Coach Bloom then made their way out to the car where Ryan was waiting. Without a word, they got into the car and buckled in before James pulled out of the lot. "So, who's Ivy?"

"Ivy's our dog!" Ryan replied, pouting no more.

"Awesome, I love dogs - what kind is she?"

"She's a Rhodesian Ridgeback, she turned three a fortnight ago," answered James, knowing that Ryan struggled with pronouncing the name of the breed sometimes.

"You should come and see her!" The kid piped up. James looked at Becky, not wanting to put any pressure on her to continue to hang out with them if she didn't want to.

"Maybe not today-" the father started before he was interrupted by Becky.

"No, I don't mind, I'd love to meet her actually. Unless you're busy or whatever..."

"Cool! I can show you my room too, it's got loads of wrestling stuff and football stuff and..." While Ryan continued to list off the contents of his bedroom, James tapped Becky's arm, getting her to look at him.

"Thanks, by the way. You don't have to if you don't want to. I can tell him no," James said quietly, so not to draw attention to the conversation.

"Like I said, I don't mind. I'm not doing anything anyway. One request though, can you stop off at my place so I can get a change of clothes? I was practicing some stuff in the ring with Pamela so I'd rather change."

"Yeah, sure, not a problem."

The rest of the ride to Becky's house was mostly filled with Ryan singing along to the radio and Becky giving James directions to her house. Once they arrived, she hopped out of the car and jogged up the path to the front door before disappearing behind it. It wasn't long before she re-emerged, this time dressed in dark blue ripped jeans, a black leather jacket and black Converse. It was her top that really grabbed James' attention - it was a black tank with the words 'OH MY QUAD' on it. James chuckled and shook his head as Becky got back into the car.

"What?" She asked, seeing him shake his head.

"'Oh my quad'? Really?"

"If this is you telling me that you don't like puns, I'm sorry, I'd have to leave immediately."

"Hey, I love me a pun, but that's not the best I've heard. The carrot, root, stewing pun on your Instagram? That's top punning right there." James turned out of Becky's street, beginning the short journey to The Moran household, so missed the smirk that crept over Becky's face.

"Hmm, interesting."

"Huh? What's interesting?"

"Oh, nothing. I just didn't peg you as an Instagram fan - an Instafan, if you will."

"I'm not really, I barely use it. I just remember seeing that post on your account a while back and it stuck with me," he explained although Becky didn't seem convinced by his nonchalant answer.

"Okay, sure." The woman pulled out her phone and opened the app. "What's your username? I'll give you a follow."

"God, I'm not even sure. Um, try **rjmorganwwe**." Becky typed it in, but with no success. "Eh, okay. How about **morganrj**?" Still nothing. "Maybe try searching James Moran, that might work." A couple of seconds later and Becky let out a triumphant 'yes!' upon seeing the profile **wwerjdotmorg**. James was waiting for her to say something else, but she didn't. He took the turn off for the "Well?"

"Well, I think you weren't kidding when you said you didn't use it. The last thing you posted was 63 weeks ago! And you don't even follow anyone." Just as Becky finished her sentence, James pulled into his street and quickly drove up the driveway of his house. "That's it - today, we're taking pictures for your Instagram!" As she hopped out of the car, James let out a groan, making her laugh. "No complaining, Instagram's a great way to interact with the fans and you'll get a kick out of seeing all their cool fan art and cosplay stuff."

"Ugh, yes ma'am." James grumbled, unlocking the door. "After you." Becky walked inside, taking in the minimalist, yet still homely decor when Ivy came bounding down the stairs to say hello. She ran right up to Becky and put her front paws on the woman's chest. "Ivy, down girl!"

"Nah, she's fine. You're such a beautiful girl, aren't you?" Becky cooed, rubbing Ivy's stomach and behind her ears. After a couple of minutes, Ivy got down and went over to Ryan, beginning the process all over again. "Okay, so first things first, we need a selfie..."

'This is going to be a long night,' James thought as he pulled out his phone, smiling when he saw the cheesy grin on Becky's face as she moved into the frame. 'Eh, maybe it won't be too bad.'

* * *

 _ **THE MORAN HOUSEHOLD, 9.30PM**_

"Night buddy. I love you," said James as he turned the light out in Ryan's bedroom, the young lad lying in his bed, about to drop off to sleep.

"Night dad. Love you too." Ryan replied through a yawn as James closed the door behind him as he left. It'd been a long day for Ryan and now the excitement of spending the day with his new best friend had caught up to him. Speaking of Ryan's new best friend, Becky was sitting on the couch, petting Ivy who was curled up, snoring, in the seat previously occupied by James; the TV screen which was mounted on the wall showed the scene from 'My Neighbor Totoro', Ryan's favourite movie, which they had paused earlier.

"Oh, I see how it is. I've been replaced Ivy?" The man joked as he got to the bottom of the stairs. The dog didn't even lift her head and continued to sleep.

"What can I say? I can't help it if everyone loves me." The two wrestlers sat in relative silence as they watched the remainder of the movie, only speaking to comment on something happening on the screen. When the end credits rolled, Becky stretched out, yawning.

"If you're tired, I can take you home just now?" James offered, readying himself to get off of the couch.

"No, I'm okay just now. Unless you want me to leave..."

"No!" Realising that might have sounded a bit too eager, James adjusted his volume. "No, I mean, we've still got to decide what picture to post on Instagram right?" 'Way to sound desperate Moran...'

"Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about that." James stood up, stretching his arms out, making his shirt expose a slither of the taut muscle underneath.

"I'm going to get a bottle of water. Do you want one?" Becky looked up from her phone, already scrolling through the 15 or so pictures she'd taken that day, to offer James a smile.

"Since you're offering sure, that'd be great thanks." James returned a few seconds later and handed her a bottle. "Thanks. You know we took some good pictures today, I think."

The next twenty minutes were spent poring over the pictures on their phones before they settled on two pictures, one for each of their accounts. They'd decided not to tell the other which one they were going to post, opting to keep it a surprise instead. The TV changed to some random news program, prompting Becky to look at the time.

"Ah, I best be getting on home."

"Sure, let me just grab a hoodie or something and I'll give you a ride back to your place." James did just that, grabbing his NXT hoodie from the pegs by the door before getting in the car, locking the front door behind him. "So, I'm curious, who was that guy at Split Oak earlier?" He wasn't expecting the bark of laughter from the passenger seat as he reversed out of the driveway.

"Oh, he's someone from the gym I go to when I'm back here in Orlando. I'd mentioned in passing that I was going to be back in Orlando for a couple of days and that I might use the time to go on a couple of hikes and he invited himself along - I didn't have the heart to tell him no. Then during the car ride out there, he was being really condescending and misogynist but I could hardly get out of the car could I? He wasn't any better when we actually got there, only I could him out on it and well, you saw the rest. I think I'll be going to the PC next time I'm working out, I just don't want to run into him."

"Well, if you ever need it, I'm sure Ryan would be more than happy to put a sleeper on him again."

"Haha, thanks, tell him I appreciate the help. Although I'm pretty sure I could put a more effective sleeper on him myself."

The rest of the drive was spent with the two of them quietly singing along to the Lukas Graham song playing through the speakers. Soon, the car turned into Becky's street and James brought the car to a stop outside of her house.

"Thanks for today, James. I had fun." The woman said, unbuckling her seat belt.

"So did I, we should do it again."

"Yeah, we should. Don't forgot to post that picture - I'll be watching for it, Moran."

"You too, Quin. Let me get the door for you." James ran round and opened the door for her. "Night, Becky."

"Goodnight James." She gave him a hug, walked up the path then disappeared behind the door.

Walking back to his car, James heard his phone go off in his pocket. Looking at the screen, he saw it was an Instagram notification. 'Rebecca Quin ( **beckylynchwwe** ) started following you.' Clicking on it, he followed her back and saw that the most recent post was a collage of three pictures that they'd taken earlier that day. The first picture was a picture that Becky had managed to take of Ivy not long after they'd arrived at the house, with her wearing Becky's steampunk goggles that James had bought for Ryan at the merchandise stand on Monday; the second was a selfie that Becky had taken with Ryan, the two of them doing the Four Horsewoman hand gesture. The last one was one that James himself had taken - it was of Ryan, on Becky's back, in a sleeper hold position with Ivy at the front, her paws on Becky's chest. Reading the caption, the man couldn't help but smile: 'Wild day with my new buddies Ryan and Ivy. Photo, dog and kid cred: **wwerjdotmorg** '. Clicking on the camera icon, James selected a picture of his own, came up with a caption and posted it before pocketing his phone and driving home.

* * *

 _ **BECKY'S ROOM, SAME TIME**_

As Becky emerged from the bathroom, after completing her night routine, she heard the familiar sound of an Instagram notification coming from her phone which lay on top of the bed. 'James Moran ( **wwerjdotmorg** ) started following you.' Selecting his profile, she grinned like a loon at the post he'd made. The picture was on himself, pinned underneath Ryan who was pinned beneath Ivy. 'It's been a dad and dog-pile kind of day. Thanks for the photo and for hanging with us today **beckylynchwwe** '. Quickly double tapping the picture, Becky locked her phone as she climbed into bed.

'What are you getting yourself into Becky?'

* * *

 **Hey guys, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I was working on it over the course of a few days so I'm actually pretty happy with how it turned out!**

 **As usual, follow/favourite/review and I'll update asap! Thanks!**


	4. Chapter 4

_**JAMES' CAR, TWO WEEKS LATER, 10:45am**_

"C'mon James, when was the last time you went out on a date?" Mercedes whined from her seat in the front of James' car. The man in question just groaned much to the amusement of Mercedes as well as Becky and Ashley in the back, the pair quietly laughing at the man's obvious discomfort as he drove them for coffee before the night's live event. Ryan had decided not to join James on this week's travels, opting instead to spend some time with Sam before the eccentric man went on holiday to Italy with his family. "Do you even check Tinder any more? I mean, it's not like you checked it much befo-" She continued, cutting herself off when she reached for James' phone in the center console but the man moved it out of her reach to her chagrin.

"Okay, first off: my phone, not yours, so no touching." This prompted sulking from the women's champion. "Now that that's sorted, when would I even have time to check that app - what's it called, Kindling? - let alone actually go on a date?" James asked, hoping that his point would make Mercedes see sense and realise that this was stupid, but unfortunately for him, she was completely undeterred.

"Well, other people have time to. Hell, little Miss Fliehr back there has a date on Friday!"

"It's not a date, well not really, we're going for coffee that's all. Anyway, we're not talking about my love life, we're talking about James." Ashley pointed out, successfully diverting the group's attention back to the only male in the car.

"I'm just saying - if the FORMER WWE women's champion," Mercedes paused for the inevitable retort from the back, rolling her eyes when both of the backseat's occupants obnoxiously yelled "Redesign, rebuild, reclaim!", before continuing, "can find time for a date, then so can you! It doesn't have to be serious!" She tried to encourage him as they pulled into the coffee shop's parking lot, but when she looked at his face, was met with a blank stare. "Ugh fine! I'll drop it... for now, but we WILL be talking about this later, Moran."

"I don't expect anything else, KV. Now, c'mon, let's go get some coffee, I'm dying here." With that, he jumped out of the car and, as usual, opened the doors for his passengers before they made their way into the empty coffee shop. It wasn't long before the three women had situated themselves at a table near by a large window while James ordered their coffee before returning with their orders on a tray. James began drinking and started telling Becky about a couple of cosplayers that had tagged him in a photo on Instagram but soon noticed out of the corner of his eye that Ashley and Mercedes were talking in hushed tones over Ashley's phone despite the four of them being the only customers in the shop. "Okay, what are you up to?"

"Who, me? Nothing." Ashley said, shrugging and taking a sip of her coffee.

"No, her. What are you scheming about?"

"Honestly, James! Your lack of faith in me makes me so sad-"

"KV? I may have been born at night, but it wasn't last night. What are you roping poor innocent Ashley into?"

"I'm personally offended. I mean, you've known me how many years and thi-" Instead of James interrupting her this time, it was Ashley, who sighed and put her phone down.

"Christ woman, just tell the man! Please, the amateur dramatics are too much."

"Some partner in crime you are, this is why I always scheme with Pamela... Fine, I was asking Ash to text her date to see if he has a friend he could bring for you and make it a double date." James just sighed, running his hands through his hair and moving to get up.

"You know what, I'll just get you out in the car. Enjoy your coffee, ladies." As he started towards the door, he felt someone grab a hold of his wrist so looked down to see Mercedes' fingers there. "I get it Cedes, you're just trying to help, but not right now, okay?" With that, he headed out to his car, leaving the three women in the coffee shop slightly stunned.

"Well, that didn't backfire at all..." Becky mumbled, drinking her coffee as she looked out at James sitting alone.

"Hey, I'm just trying to help him out." Mercedes defended herself, although she did feel guilty for making James leave.

"And he knows that, but maybe lay off of him for a bit, huh? Your intentions are good, but if he doesn't want to see anyone right now, then you can't force him to," the blonde said, wrapping an arm around Mercedes' shoulder to try and make her feel slightly better. The three of them sat in relatively silence, drinking their coffee before Ashley put some money on the table for her drink before standing up and heading towards the door.

"Where you off to?" asked Becky, getting her things together to leave too.

"You two stay here just now, Bex. I'm gonna go talk to him."

* * *

 ** _IN THE CAR, 11:30am_**

James sat in the driver's seat, fiddling aimlessly with his phone as he thought over everything that Mercedes had said. He knew that she was genuinely just trying to help him out, but he still felt like the timing wasn't right. After all, he'd just been called up to the main roster and was still getting used to things with the travelling and what not. Exhaling, he closed his eyes and didn't see Ashley approaching from the coffee shop, so jumped about 2 feet out of the seat when the door opened and she climbed inside. "Oh, hey. Are you guys ready to leave?"

"Not quite yet, those two are still finishing their coffee." They sat in a slightly awkward silence for a few minutes, neither of them really knowing what to say before the former women's champion broke the silence. "I'm sorry, by the way. For that with Mercedes, I didn't send the message or anything."

"It's okay. She just..." James said, trying to think of how to put what he wanted to say into words.

"Doesn't know when to stop sometimes?" She finished, making James smile and laugh a little.

"Ha, yeah. That's probably about right." Throughout their conversation, James was playing around with his phone, contemplating what to say next. Out of the three women, Ashley was the one he'd interacted with the least although all of their interactions had been fun so far, that day not withstanding. "So a date on Friday then?" He joked, making her groan before laughing.

"Not you now... Like I said, it's not really a date, just getting some coffee with someone. I'm not all that interested in him to be honest, but it could be fun, break up the monotony a little y'know? Or I guess, not..."

"You'd be right there. So who is he? Anyone from work?"

"God no! He's just this guy who works at the gym nearest my place, I've dropped by there a couple of times the last couple of weeks and he seems like a cool guy," she explained, shrugging slightly. 'Ugh, I can't believe I'm about to say this,' James thought before replying.

"Maybe send that message?" He didn't have to look to see the confusion on the woman's face.

"Uh... okay? Are you sure, cause it seemed like earlier that you didn-"

"I know, but nothing ventured, nothing gained right? And it could be fun..."

'This is not going to be fun.'

* * *

 _ **Hey guys! I apologise for how late, short and uneventful this chapter is, I've been super super busy with university and more recently, exams (3rd year is no joke) but I hope to update at least one more time this week now that I have sometime off (well, until next Monday!) so fingers crossed!**_

 ** _As usual, please review, favourite and follow this story and feel free to drop me a message if you want to talk about the story, or anything really!_**


	5. Chapter 5

_**I'm a horrible piece of trash, so so sorry that this has taken me so long to update this story! Things have just gotten super crazy with family life and university (ya girl made it to her Honours year... somehow!) and I've hardly had the time to write anything that wasn't a lab report or an essay.**_

 _ **I can't guarantee that I'll be able to update this soon but optimistically, it'll be in a few weeks (that's the best I can offer, unfortunately!)**_

 _ **Hopefully, you guys will like this chapter. I know there's not much to it, but I'm at a bit of a crossroads as to where to take this story. Speaking of which - I have a poll on my profile, please please vote in it as, not only am I terrible at updating, I am terrible at making decisions. Also, as usual, please leave a review to let me know what you think! Thanks again guys. I love you, awesome nerds!**_

* * *

 _ **THAT FRIDAY, INSIDE JAMES' CAR**_

"Well, that was certainly something," mused James as he and Ashley watched on in a mixture of disbelief, horror and amusement as both of their dates for that evening were taken away by the police. His companion huffed out a laugh, running a hand through her blonde hair as she did.  
"That's one way of putting it. Sorry to get you dragged into that mess; I swear he didn't seem like a douchebag."  
"Hey, don't worry about it. It made my Friday a lot more entertaining than it was going to be, so there's that. Are you okay though? That drink he threw didn't get on your clothes right?" Ashley quickly inspected her outfit for any stains or marks that weren't there when she and James first entered the restaurant, frowning when she found a patch of her red shirt that was darker than it should be.  
"Ugh, that idiot got his whiskey on my shirt. I doubt it'll come out." The blonde threw her head back exasperatedly, hating that what was supposed to be a nice quiet evening had turned into such a shit show. Neither of the wrestlers even knew how the fight had started. Both of them had gone to the bathroom and by the time that they made their way back to the booth that they were seated at, Ashley's date - Will - was screaming in a waiter's face while James' date - Erica - was being held back by two other patrons. Drinks and glasses began to fly and before long, the police were hauling the pair, kicking and screaming into separate police cars.

Noticing that Ashley was getting upset, James glanced at the time and, seeing that it was still relatively early, quickly came up with an idea.  
"How about we go shopping?" He blurted out, prompting the car's other occupant to turn and face him in confusion.  
"Uh, what? I mean, that's nice and all James but it's okay, I got us into this stupid situ-" Ashley was cut off before she could continue to blame herself.  
"Enough of that, neither of us are to blame for their stupid decisions. It's still early though so all that remains to be asked is: do you trust me?"  
"Sure..." she trailed off before noticing James' almost manic grin and adding, "wait, we're not going to get in trouble are we?"

All she got was a maniacal laugh in return.

* * *

 _ **TWENTY MINUTES LATER, IN A COSTUME STORE**_

"This is insane. No, actually - YOU are insane!" Ashley said through a fit of laughter as James disappeared into the changing area of the small costume store that he'd brought her to. She'd managed to avoid having to wear any of the Halloween costumes that the man had tried to coerce her into trying on. Instead, she found herself laughing as James emerged from the changing area in increasingly ridiculous costumes. So far, he had been Batman, Robin Hood, a crocodile and Ashley's personal favourite - a lady leprechaun. After she stopped giggling, the blonde took several photos and a video of James attempting Irish dancing which was promptly sent to Becky. The ensemble that the Englishman was currently trying on had been kept under wraps though. As soon as he'd spotted it in the 'sports' section, he snatched it into his arms and ran to the changing area before she could see it. That was about ten minutes ago and James still hadn't appeared from behind the curtain separating the rest of the store from the changing area. She was about to ask what was taking him so long when, mortifyingly, the all too familiar sound of her dad's entrance music started to fill the store much to the confusion of the elderly lady standing behind the register.

"Oh my god, this is not happening..." Ashley mumbled, covering her face with her hands to try and block out the sight of James in full Ric Flair get up, white-blonde wig and robe included. Only when he let out a loud 'Woo!' did she drop her hands, shaking her head despite the wide smile on her face at the man's ridiculous behaviour.  
"What'd you think?! Do you reckon I can pull off the robe look?" James asked cheekily, letting out another 'woo' and beginning to strut.  
"Jeez, I swear I don't know you. Who are you?"  
"Come on! Strut with me, I need a pro to show me how!" He then purposefully done a terrible strut, prompting Ashley's eyes to bug out in horror.  
"That was possibly the worst strut I've ever seen. No, I know what you're doing... Don't you give me that look, Moran!"  
"Pwetty pwease, Ash... For me?" James put on his best imitation of the puppy dog eyes that Ryan gave him when he wanted something. It didn't seem to be working and after a minute or so, he was resolved to dropping it until he noticed a twinkle of amusement in Ashley's eyes which was soon followed by a sigh of resignation, although the woman was still smiling.  
"Just once then we never speak of this again," Ashley said, shaking her head in amusement as jumped up and down, doing a fist pump in celebration.  
"You're the best! The GOAT even! Just once, I pinky promise." He extended his pinky towards her. She jokingly rolled her eyes and linked pinkies with him, muttering about how he was 'an adult-sized child'.

Checking that there was no one around, which there wasn't, the two of them began strutting for a couple of beats of the music, James finishing his strut with an obnoxiously loud 'woo'.  
"Okay, I think it's past your bedtime... Actually, what time is it?" Ashley asked, checking her watch for the first time since they arrived at the costume store. "Jeez, we've been here for ninety minutes! We should probably go, I told David that I'd call him later and he'll worry if I don't.  
"Sure, no worries. Let me just change and pay for this and we can-"  
"Uh-uh, absolutely not. You're not buying that." James went to argue but stopped when he saw the look on his friend's face.  
"You're no fun..." he mumbled as he disappeared behind the curtain once again.

* * *

 _ **BACK AT THE HOTEL**_

"Hey, Ash, we're back at the hotel. C'mon, time to wake up." James said quietly as he gently shook the blonde who'd fallen asleep in the passenger seat. They'd just pulled into the parking lot of their hotel, so as adorable as the former Women's champion looked, it was time to head inside.  
"Huh? Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to fall asleep on you, it's just been an eventful night." She apologized as she stirred, yawning and stretching as she did.  
"Don't sweat it, I fall asleep when I'm the passenger all the time. We've got to head inside though. Wait there and I'll get the door for ya."

By the time that they'd made it into the elevator, they'd fallen into a conversation about work and possible upcoming storylines, the quiet elevator music filling in any breaks in the conversation. All too soon though, they reached the floor where Ashley was rooming with Becky and they both got out - James opting to walk her to the door then take the two flights of stairs to his floor instead.  
"Guess this is me then... Wow, that was so cliche," she mumbled, fishing around in her purse for her keycard.  
"Just a little." The sound of an iPhone message notification could be heard, coming from James' pocket, but he ignored it. "So, I guess I'll see you in the morning?"  
"Sure, thanks for tonight James. It turned out pretty good. Goodnight." The two hugged and James turned to walk towards the stairs, but stopped when Ashley quietly called out his name. "Do you want to do that again? Go out I mean, not the dressing up as my dad and dates getting arrested thing. You know what forget I said anything, I just had a nice tim-"  
"Hey Ash," interrupted James with a laugh, stopping the word vomit spewing out of Ashley's mouth. "I'd like that."  
"Oh, shit really? Great... I'll see you tomorrow then."  
"Night Fliehr." Ashley disappeared behind her room door, smiling with a slight blush. Seeing the door close behind her, James pulled his phone out, his heart dropping when he saw what it read:

 _ **Unknown number** James, I know you don't want to talk to me, but it's your mum._


End file.
